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Rare Fossil Forces Rethinking of Early Dinosaur Evolution


December 10, 2009

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The discovery of a rare, primitive dinosaur named Tawa hallae is redefining the first theropods. Uncovered at New Mexico's Ghost Ranch and dating to the Upper Triassic, the fossil's evidence of an air sack system makes this trait much more primitive than previously thought. T. hallae is also more closely related to South American fossils, which redefines the early evolution of theropods as not endemic to each continent but as multiple dispersals from the south.Full Story

Source
American Museum of Natural History

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